Staxel Early Access Review – Good times with Staxel

Staxel Early Access Review – Good times with Staxel

Staxelwasn’t something I expected to kill a bit of time with and enjoy, much less really find myself encapsulated in. Though I can see its flaws, it doesn’t scare me away. I rarely find Early Access games where I can say with certainty I want to follow through until its full release, but Staxelis certainly one of those rare cases.

Released by developers Plukit and published by none other than Humble Bundle, Staxelis an open world sandbox game reminiscent of Minecraft. The objective is simple – you own a farm in a small town community, and as the days pass you improve the farm and live the simple life all while interacting with the residents of the small town.

Though the voxel visuals have run their course in my eyes, I didn’t really have a problem with them in this game.

Gameplay wise, everything was very easy to grasp on the surface. There were one or two things that the tutorial taught me that I could appreciate. Beyond that, I didn’t really need to do it, though it forced me to, regardless. One of my major gripes of the game is that a majority of the tools you need to get started were given to you in the tutorial that I thought you were able to skip. Once I got past that bump in the road, everything was fairly smooth sailing.

Speaking on the visuals, aside from some technical hiccups that will come with most Early Access games, I ended up enjoying the pleasant, simplistic style Staxelwas going for. For an Early Access game, I was very impressed with the quality on this end of the game, everything you see in the game happens at a smooth, well optimized framerate and the lighting couldn’t be any better! It well surpassed my standards for Early Access Steam games.

The soundtrack was simply amazing! I’m not one to be immersed in a game like this based on the soundtrack, but Staxel’srelaxing tunes really helped me chill out and enjoy the game. Even when the tutorial got tedious, the song playing as I walked through the in-game town just entranced me more than I’d anticipated. I highly suggest that even if you don’t play video games, this soundtrack is worth listening to.

Overall, while I don’t have much to say about Staxel, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my time with it! It was a comfy little experience that I enjoyed much more than I realized, even my negatives were only nitpicks that are bound to be ironed out as the production of this game continues (seemingly mandatory tutorial, render distance problems, limited character customization upon starting a new game). It’s worth the buy if you’re okay with picking up Early Access games, and if you don’t – well, I think you should keep Staxelon your radar, it’s a fun game with tons of potential.

I have high hopes and standards when it comes down to the future of Staxel. But right now, it appears like it’s going to a smash hit.